In an information network operable for remote access, servers typically communicate with clients via output pages transmitted over the network for displaying output and receiving input from users. In a remote access network such as the Internet, the output pages often take the form of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) script pages, commonly known as web pages. A user accesses the server from a browser application running on a client computer system (client), and the web server (server) responds with a series of web pages as directed by the browser under user control. The server typically builds the web pages by compiling and executing the HTML script and other code corresponding to the requested page. The server transmits the web page to the user for displaying output fields, and also receives input from the user via input fields on the output web page.
A sequence or hierarchy of web pages typically forms a graphical user interface (GUI) from the client to a remote application running on the server. Such a remote application may provide various services and functions on behalf of the user, such as email, retail purchases, media display (e.g. streaming audio/video), electronic auctions, remote system monitoring and operations, etc. Accordingly, such GUIs may become large and complex, incorporating a large number of web pages arranged in a navigational format for traversal by the user. Further, such web pages often incorporate various aesthetic features in the form of graphics, photographic images, fonts, and formatting. Such aesthetic features may incorporate nontechnical aspects such as marketing, artistic expression, and graphical design, depending on the context or target audience of the web pages.
However, the technical content of web pages often incorporate a variety of languages, scripts, and other extensions to the general HTML framework, for example Java based invocations such as JavaServer Pages (JSP), Extensible Markup Language (XML) code, and other execution based extensions. Often, the aesthetic content developers of a conventional web page may be from backgrounds such as graphic design and artistic layout and accordingly, may not be proficient in the technical aspects of web page generation. Therefore, technical personnel conversant in the underlying technology are required to translate the aesthetic concepts into codified representations in the web pages (output pages).
Conventional development facilities exist, however, to attempt to bridge the proficiency gap between technical and artistic contributors to web page development. One such facility is so called “Custom Tag Libraries,” which link portions of executable code to mnemonic labels, or tags, which a user embeds in an HTML file. The conventional user then need merely employ the mnemonic tag name to invoke the corresponding code in the web page display, typically invoking JSP code or other Java based code facilities known to those of skill in the art. The user need not develop or even be familiar with the underlying code corresponding to the tag. However, such conventional tag libraries typically employ substantial support code in conjunction with the tag invocation from the web page. The support code typically takes the form of parallel code files, and may be voluminous in order to support a beneficial number of tags. Accordingly, technically versed coders typically provide manual development of the support code accompanying a conventional custom tag library.